Writing Letters

The letters to the editor page is generally known as the second most read part of a newspaper. It is a good place to shape and frame a debate.

With the DeLay rule change focused primarily on the GOP selfishly moving to protect its own, and newspaper stories appearing in every major daily paper in the country, with opinion pieces along side, we have a golden opportunity to deepen public awareness of Tom DeLay and his corrupt pay-to-play politics.

There is a free site that allows you to send letters to the editor to local papers on-line very easily. Click here and type in your zip code under Local Media and press Go. A list of national and local news outlets will appear. Select the ones you which you want to submit a letter by marking the box next to it and clicking on Compose Message at the very bottom of the page.

Then create a subject line for your letter and draft a short letter and hit Send Message.

Here are some helpful hints about letters:

Keep them short. 150 words or so.

Refer to something that ran in the newspaper if possible.

Mention why you are concerned about this issue.

Here are some talking points for drafting your letter:

The Republicans in Congress just removed a rule that forced their leaders to resign if they are indicted for criminal behavior. It was clearly a payback to Tom DeLay, who apparently participated in raising illegal corporate contributions in Texas to advance his own power and his partys control over Congress.

That means that Tom DeLay can continue to lead Congress even if a grand jury has indicted him for a felony.

[If your member of Congress is a Republican] The change came on a voice vote, meaning that we will never know exactly how our member of Congress (fill-in with his or her name) voted. We should ask.

[If your member of Congress is a Democrat] While this rule change only applies to Republicans, it is important that all members of Congress, like (fill-in the blank), speak out against this change.

Congress should be led by those who obey the law. If Tom DeLay is indicted for criminal behavior, he should resign until the matter is resolved.

If you have drafted a letter, please post it below and say where you have submitted it. If the letter gets published, please let us know right away!